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Sunday, June 21, 2009

1:72 scale Red Army (Soviet Union) Tanks

As promised (even though it took so long), I am continuing my review of my 1:72 WWII scale tanks. This time I will be blogging about the Red Army's (Soviet Union) tanks. The Red Army's tanks are my favourite of all tanks in WWII.
Even though the Russians lack the technical sophistication of the Germans or the economical power of the US, they still managed to produce the greatest tank in WWII (according to my opinion), the T 34.
My tanks are from Dragon Armor, Forces of Valor & Easy Model (Trumpet) Ground Armor. Each company has its pro and cons and you can read about it in my earlier post.

T 34
The T-34 tank was produced from 1940 to 1958. It is widely regarded as having been the world's best tank when the Soviet Union became involved in World War II.
At its introduction, it was the tank with the best balanced attributes of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. It also had sloped armour which was more likely to deflect anti-armour rounds than perpendicular armour.
The T-34 often symbolises the effectiveness of the Soviet's counterattack against the Germans.

T-34/76 Mod. 1940, Eastern Front 1941 by Dragon












T-34/76 Mod. 1942, 30th Guards Tank Brigade
"Leningradets #116", Leningrad Front, Winter 1944 by Dragon












T-34/76 by Easy Model
















T-34/85
By up arming the T-34 with a long barrelled 85 mm tank gun,
the T-34/85 was created. Basically it is the T-34 with more
firepower!

T-34/85 by Easy Model












KV-1 Tank
The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks were a series of Soviet heavy tanks, named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov. The KV series were known for their extremely heavy armour protection, which was capable of resisting all German anti-tank weapons up to 75 mm and 88 mm calibre.

KV-1 Tank, 1942, Heavy Tank Regiment by Easy Model












KV-1 Tank, 1941 by Easy Model












KV-2 Tank
The KV-2 was a variant of the KV-1 tank
It was a heavy assault tank with the M-10 152 mm howitzer.
Due to the size of its heavy turret and gun, the KV-2 was slower and had a much higher profile than the KV-1. The extra weight also increased the breakdown rate of the vehicle and production was soon halted. The original KV-2 was built on the chassis of the KV-1

KV-2 Model 1939 Tank by Easy Model












SU-85M Tank Destroyer
The SU-85 was a self-propelled gun used during World War II, based on the chassis of the T-34 medium tank. Earlier Soviet self-propelled guns were meant to serve as either assault guns, such as the SU-122, or as mobile anti-tank weapons; the SU-85 fell into the latter category. The designation SU-85 is derived as follows: 'SU' stands for the Russian: Samokhodnaya Ustanovka - self-propelled carriage, while "85" signifies the bore of the vehicle's armament, the 85 mm D-5T gun.
The SU-85 entered combat in August 1943. It saw active service in Soviet, Polish and Czechoslovak forces on the Eastern Front until the end of the war. It was obsolescent by 1945.

SU-85M Tank Destroyer by Dragon












Su-122
The SU-122 (SU-122 stands for Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 122 mm) was a self-propelled howitzer used during World War II. The number "122" in the designation represents the caliber of the main armament—a 122 mm M-30S howitzer.

Su-122 Assault Gun by Forces of Valor












Red Army's tanks on the roll in the cold of winter




Charge! For the Mother Land!


Monday, June 15, 2009

Takara Tomy Trans Scanning Optimus Prime

I do feel a bit outdated blogging about this figure when the rage is now on the new Transformers ROTF toys...LOL
When I saw this figure (vehicle mode) being displayed in Metro Paragon, I was smitten by it due to the nice scale (not too big or small) and the front of the vehicle had this "chrome" look. I made a remark to my wife saying it looked so good but will resist buying it.
Guess what! My wife being the nice person she is, decided to go down a few days later and bought it for me. So sweet of her!

TakaraTomy's Trans Scanning Optimus Prime offers a different style of Transformers. We have exterior pieces that are able to snap onto an inner skeleton, which can be posed or transformed into two alternate modes. Trans Scanning Optimus Prime comes with exterior panels to mimic his truck mode and protoform mode. I think it is a pretty cool idea and I really like the truck mode!

An interesting point is that you actually do not need the inner skeleton to transform into truck mode! Hence you are able to display the truck and the protoform at the same time. Nice touch there Takara!

Overall, a fun toy to play around with.





The inner skeleton










With exterior panels to mimic protoform mode








Transform to protoform mode!










Optimus Prime as we know him!












Yes...my fave, the truck mode














Let's start the day with Optimus Prime...














Sunday, June 14, 2009

Who wants Sideswipe!

Was at Hougang Point's NTUC doing my weekly groceries shopping when I stumbled upon the Transformer's toys aisle. To my surprise, there were 4 Sideswipes on the pegs. Its is pretty difficult to find Sideswipe in the shopping centres in the city but here there were 4!
So hurry down to NTUC at Hougang Point for your Sideswipe (if you have not got yours yet).

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